Sylvia Boorstein talked about having an intention statement to start her times of meditation. I never really formally thought about that, but I immediately had a good idea what mine would be. The difficulty is coming up with those doggone prepositions.

"Present to your presence; loving to your love." Or should it be "loving with your love", or "loving in your love?" I think I'll settle on "loving through your love."

This intention statement says a lot to me, it really sums up everything about meditation and it's also a creed about prayer. Prayer is simply two things: attention and intention. Attention is mindfulness, paying attention to what is, being aware of God's presence. Merton talks about having a "simple, loving awareness." James Finley calls it "realized oneness with God." Brother Lawrence describes practicing his presence as "a habitual sense of God's presence." Even Eckhart Tolle uses similar language: "felt sense of being."

To me, being aware of what is and being aware of God are the same thing. God is being; God is life; God is everything that is, non judgmentally.

Intention is all about the ultimate purpose or goal, if there were to be one for life. The Dalai Lama summarizes in a sutra what we are about every day: "developing ourselves, expanding our heart out to others, achieving enlightenment for the benefit of all living beings." The Dalai Lama isn't necessarily writing about prayer for Christians, but he might have well been. Jesus put it simply, "love one another as I have loved you."

Intention is desire, the real, true heartfelt desire behind everything about who we are. What do I want? Peace for my soul, Peace for the world, praise to the transcendent creator and life force, creating and sustaining all life; praise to God.